Free to Play: Getting the Most out of Starter Edition Accounts

Last month, Blizzard introduced free-to-play Starter Edition Accounts. With these accounts, players could level up to 20--of course with some restrictions--and play for free indefinitely. It's an easy way for new players to test out the game, but it's also gained popularity among twinks who are looking for even more of a challenge with in-game restrictions. We've covered all the things you can and can't do on a trial account below.

Activating an Account

Players can get a Starter Account edition by visiting the home page, receiving a Recruit-a-Friend invitation, or through a trial key obtained from other Blizzard products.

Once signed up, you will be prompted to download the game, which can be played as the streaming client downloads data in the background.

Previous trial accounts made before 4.2, which had expired, are permanently reactivated. Characters level 20 and below on these accounts can be played again.

In-Game Observations

Examining trial accounts in-depth, we found a few more things:

Players can access areas from The Burning Crusade. This means that they can be summoned to Shattrath City, as well as roll Draenei and Blood Elves. Their racial bonuses apply to professions. (How to get summoned to such places? A pay-to-play friend with .)

However, players cannot roll Worgen or Goblins.

While zones added in Cataclysm cannot be accessed, F2P players can zone/get summoned to Outlands and Cata areas--useful for accessing portals and doing some risky exploring.

Some secondary professions may be bugged; players can level past rank 100.

Players can equip tabards and benefit from reputation gains, eventually getting reputation-related achievements and access to items like Sacoche darnassienne.

Players can learn abilities from trainers and spend 6 talent points.

Players can still visit Experience Eliminators in major cities if they wish to twink at a lower bracket. Upon hitting 20, players can continue to quest, but will not gain further experience until upgrading accounts.

While gold is capped, there is no cap on honor points. These can be converted slowly to Justice Points, which (in theory) could be used to purchase PvE heirlooms, providing massive stat boosts.

Characters can also communicate freely in Battlegrounds. In addition, level 20 players will be put in xp-off battlegrounds.

As Cyn states in his guide, gear lists and character profiles right here at Wowhead can help you plan our your character's course of action.

Character Enhancement

Starting at level 10, F2Ps can queue up for Goulet des Chanteguerres and Bassin Arathi in the 10-14, 15-19, and 20-24 brackets. PvPing in the 20-24 bracket will be a challenge since your F2P 20 will be up against level 24 maximized twinks. Expect 50 honor on average from a level 20 game, when planning your time to grind gear.

F2Ps will be too low-level for most gear available from the Honor Quartermasters in major cities; however they can buy items from Illiyana Braselune and Kelm Hargunth:

There are also heirloom shoulders with resilience for 2175 and heirloom weapons with resilience.

If you convert Honor Points to Justice Points (375 to 250 conversion), your F2P will be able to obtain heirlooms with PvE-focused stats: weapons, chests, and shoulders.

F2P players will need to accumulate all the materials needed for leveling professions on their own--they cannot rely on the Auction House, the mailbox, or friends trading supplies. So, if you try to level Leatherworking and Blacksmithing at once, you won't get very far. As Psyinister recommended, absolute F2P minmaxers will level and drop most professions in a specific order to reap multiple benefits and access crafted drops--storing the materials for the next profession in your three bank tabs.

Herbalism

Herbalism provides : 15 haste for 20 seconds and a heal. This is great for burst dps.

You'll need to pick up this profession if you plan on leveling Alchemy or Inscription in the future.

Inscription

Inscription is one of the stronger F2P professions. Here are all the items players can make up to skill level 100.

Players can make a decent amount of glyphs, but cannot use them as glyph slots unlock at level 25.

Of particular note is Tome mystique for casters, accessible at skill level 85. You can also make Suite de Voleurs repeatedly for some level 20 green gear--but these are better saved to later disenchant.

Tailoring

Tailoring will provide your character with a free source of Sac vert en laine, but none of the gear is really optimal for a level 20. Plus, it eats up a ton of cloth. Even the bags are not particularly practical as there's the 16-slot faction ones, Sac en serpent from Wailing Caverns, and profession-specific bags from numerous vendors that cost .

To a max level, it may not seem like much, but Feu de cuisine gives 4 spirit.

First Aid

Again, this profession can be leveled over 100. In theory, Bandage en laine should be the highest item available, but with the bugged secondary professions, Bandage épais en laine and Bandage en soie will also work. Good luck finding silk though--it appears it begins to drop around level 27.

Anti-venin is something people don't think much of leveling, but poisons become a deadly force in the 20-24 bracket.

If a pay-to-play friend summons you to a Cataclysm fishing zone, it's possible to farm the Tortue de mer.

When you create a new character, you're stuck completing that race's starting-zone for questing experience. Fortunately, these give similar rewards with the questing revamp in Cataclysm and you've got more flexibility in the level 10-20 range for zones. As you'll notice on the Instances tab, it seems that Alliance has an advantage when it comes to dungeon quest rewards. However, many of these Alliance dungeon rewards show up as Horde quest rewards from outdoor zones. Don't forget that you can do level 20+ zones as well for quests--but it will just be more challenging. Special mention to Ce n’est qu’un au revoir for Chapeau de sorcier décoloré--a very cool vanity item Horde F2Ps can use.

In eastern Ashenvale, many of the pre-Cataclysm quests remain untouched, especially those dealing with the threat of demons. Plus jamais ! awards decent rings.

F2P players can queue for dungeons with the Dungeon Finder starting at level 15. If you have a friend under level 20 with a paid account, they can create a party and you can manually zone into the instance.

Queueing with the Dungeon Finder (DF) will reward players with Sacoche de marchandises utiles, containing a random rare-quality cape or belt. This is awarded after every successful random dungeon completed.

Each instance will have quests that reward rare-quality items. In the following table, click on the zones to learn more about all the boss drops, or read up on the quests to see how to get guaranteed well-itemized gear. Remember that not all items are available to both the Alliance and the Horde--Alliance has the clear advantage here in terms of quest options, but equivalent items are found in most Horde-only quests, for balance. (There does not seem to be an equivalent to the Stormwind Stockade quest.) There are other available quests, but they only reward silver.

Using the Auction House isn't a possibility: the following rare-quality items in this list are most likely out of the question unless you get lucky looting them on your own.

Cataclysm has added numerous rares to all zones. These rare mobs are guaranteed to drop something useful--whether it's a piece of uncommon armor you can equip, disenchant for leveling mats, or something to vend for a few more silver. We've included some mobs that are level 20+, as you may be able to solo these or get outside help from a nearby player. Some of the very low-level rares drop bags, useful when starting.

There are also chests scattered about the zones that contain uncommon and rare BoEs.

Upon hitting level 20, you will need to have saved up for Apprenti cavalier and for a mount from your home city. Reputation discounts apply. Familiar players should have no difficulties making gold, but if you're new to the game, here are some ways to acquire it.

Many traditional ways of making gold are not possible with a F2P account. You cannot use the Auction House, mailbox, or trade to other players.

You can vend raw gathered materials or crafted items from your profession. Remember that if you amass a large amount of leather or herbs, you will not be able to sell these raw materials on the AH.

Questing in every possible zone will net you gold once you hit the xp cap, but eventually these quests will dry up.

You can level Fishing and vend the wreckage.

Vending all greys/greens from killing mobs helps. In addition, if your F2P gets to the point of needing no honor points, you can vend items from the Warsong Gulch Quartermasters, as their weapons resell for more than .

Commentaire de Voranil

Commentaire de fori

Given that that heirlooms now bind to battle.net account, wouldn't it be possible to make a trail acc when alrdy having a normal acc and send it your heirlooms too?

edit: or does the inability to use the mailbox restrict this? =/

Commentaire de perculia

on 2011-08-14T12:35:13-05:00

Can't use anything from the mailbox. Heirlooms used are those bought from converting Honor Points to Justice Points.

From what I've heard, if for some reason, the dungeon Satchel glitches and show up in the mail instead, you won't be able to access it either.

Commentaire de politank

on 2011-08-14T12:36:35-05:00

May i point our a small error? Doctor Whitherlimb is located in Ghostlands, not in eversong Woods.Other than that, geat guide. :)

Edit: also the mobs under the ghostlands tag are wrong, they're located in Hillsbrad. And, umm, also the mobs in Mulgore and some in loch modan are. I think you got some tags wrong :d

Commentaire de Rosellie

on 2011-08-14T12:54:17-05:00

I just started a new account through the RAF, after a little game time I instantly upgraded to get the full effect but am still listed as a "trial account" when people try to trade, pst me or if i try to buy off the AH. I called Blizz and they said that even though i paid for the upgrade and 3 months I have to wait 72 hours for the "trial account" notice to be lifted. Apparently its to prevent against gold spammers and such but it still sucks. lol So just a little extra info for the Stater Players.

Commentaire de perculia

on 2011-08-14T13:00:14-05:00

@politank --The zones/rares were shifted over a bit in that table; the code should be displaying properly now.

@Rosellie--That's too bad. I suppose it's similar to how people who try to faction or server change can get that same 72-hour disclaimer. It may not happen to everyone, but it sucks if it happens to you.

Commentaire de Bloodmercy

on 2011-08-14T13:09:30-05:00

Please Review the Professions tab of the Guide, Leatherworking was accidentally lumped under jewelcrafting and the bonus for mining is missing a bracket.Other than that, wonderful guide and I'll be bookmarking this for future reference :)

Commentaire de cloudp

on 2011-08-14T13:09:49-05:00

Interesting! I might actually give this a shot. I mean, why not? I probably won't go with a full account for a while - not having a fixed location, and pretty shaky connections, and a lot of time constraints, a full account is something I'm not looking forward to support the costs of in a near future. This is an ideal way to set me up for some Cataclysm exploration, though.

Commentaire de ffcloud2000

on 2011-08-14T14:05:45-05:00

Are you able to turn off XP gains on the trial? Let's say for the 15-19 pvp bracket?

Nevermind it seems i might have missed that part in the guide lol.. Twinking for free is always a bonus :)

Commentaire de Duerma

on 2011-08-14T14:17:03-05:00

Cool writeup! One thing I'd be interested in seeing, though, is a summary of vanity items and nice-looking clothing you can obtain as a trial account. I've speculated that a host of trial accounts could be fun for RP purposes, creating your character's father/mother/brother/second cousin, or for letting your D&D friend who doesn't really care about MMOs to log on and RP with you and your friends. Without the AH or mail or trade available, though, dressing up said RP characters could be tricky. Knowing that Robe de fête and Robe blanche en laine are unavailable but Jupe simple is (for example) would be super helpful! The same goes for vanity pets and other fun items. :)

Edit: You know what? Never mind. With your new guide system I will do it myself. :D

Briefly glancing at my list, here's what I think are the most notable options:Head: Bandit Mask, the Stockade's Eyepatch Necks: Alligtor/GriftahShoulder: Mantle of the Fire FestivalChest: Horde harness vendors, some of the moonglade robes, Valentine and Easter optionsShirts: vendors (Alliance has an edge) or get tailoringTabards: City tabards, also select Wrath ones from Justice Point conversions. PvP ones with enough honor.Wrist/Glove/Waist: Some cheap options from vendors of either factionPants: Colorful and Simple Kilt from Tailoring. Also vendors in various cities.Feet: Knitted Sandals are the bestRings: A few cheap rings in Exodar, Silvermoon, and StranglethornTrinkets: Arena Grand Master/Fishing Contest (although that's more madness than 'easy accessories')

Alliance gets an eyepatch, the belf mask, and some shirts, but Horde has special blood-elf themed items, the Battered Leather set, and Harness Vendors. Oh, also the Faded Wizard Hat for disguises.

Basically, you'd mostly look at the vendor/holiday options, categorize them by gold/faction/quest level restriction, and divvy it up accordingly. As players can get summoned to Northrend/Wrath zones, they can access vendors to buy things like Verre de vin.

It's a neat idea, and I can see people with EU accounts rolling a trial US one to hang out with friends, and vice versa.

Commentaire de Interest

I wouldn't say that. This is what they should've done from the off consider how many other MMOs have F2P options off the bat.

Can't use anything from the mailbox. Heirlooms used are those bought from converting Honor Points to Justice Points.

From what I've heard, if for some reason, the dungeon Satchel glitches and show up in the mail instead, you won't be able to access it either.

It does? =(

Maybe that's intended, though.

Great guide. I'm totally gonna open a few trials to mess around with. I wish they could join guilds though.

Commentaire de ChocolateThunder

on 2011-08-14T17:33:33-05:00

Good guide. I'll link this to some of my friends if I can convince 'em to try it out.

Commentaire de DmitryE

on 2011-08-14T21:17:50-05:00

A friend of mine and my dad are playing on f2p accounts right now.It's because the old system was, well, actually bad. Real bad. It went that way:-Like to try?-Sure! I'll play it on weekends, when I have time! What's the deal?-There are restrictions like levelcap or no guild.-Fine for me, I'm not ready for all of this yet.-And... You have two weeks.-And then?-You have to pay.-Well, no thanks. Nevermind.And those people who started playing now? They've been hearing from me about warcraft for years. My dad played it since warcraft 2. And he never wanted to try because he has about 3-4 hours on weekend to play. 2 weeks = 2 evenings = lvl3 maximum = no banana.

Commentaire de Duerma

on 2011-08-15T00:57:49-05:00

Oooh, thanks for the bank alt guide. I'll take a look at that as I write mine.

I have a question re: summoning. How does it work if you can't group with anyone above level 20? Would you have a warlock create the demon TV and then drop group, leaving a pair of level 20 or below to do the actual summoning? Do summoning stones no longer have level restrictions on them? I suppose a low level character in a level 20+ guild could do mass summoning, but other kinds of summoning seem a bit tricky.

Also, what's the highest level dungeon players can queue for? (Obvs I haven't played a low level in a long time, haha.) Can they go to the Stockades? Or are RFC, SFK, WC and Deadmines it?

Commentaire de iala

on 2011-08-15T01:32:15-05:00

I just started a new account through the RAF, after a little game time I instantly upgraded to get the full effect but am still listed as a "trial account" when people try to trade, pst me or if i try to buy off the AH. I called Blizz and they said that even though i paid for the upgrade and 3 months I have to wait 72 hours for the "trial account" notice to be lifted. Apparently its to prevent against gold spammers and such but it still sucks. lol So just a little extra info for the Stater Players.

Sometimes it can take that long. Sometimes it takes much shorter (in my case, when I upgraded the trial limits were removed within hours, effectively the next time I logged in I had full access to all game features).

Maybe it's random, maybe it depends on the number of accounts you're running (gold spammers of course run many accounts side by side, so activating multiple accounts may trigger the waiting period).

Commentaire de foxbuster

on 2011-08-15T09:53:06-05:00

As of patch 4.2.0, secondary professions are unlimited.

Commentaire de hymer

on 2011-08-15T09:58:47-05:00

Well written! You almost had me convinced to start a free account there for a moment. Getting to end game at 20 and finding a way to play it sound very enticing.But I guess it'd lose its charm after a while, kinda the whole point. I'll stick to my paid account for now. :)

Commentaire de deathbyte

on 2011-08-15T11:27:08-05:00

Oooh, thanks for the bank alt guide. I'll take a look at that as I write mine.

I have a question re: summoning. How does it work if you can't group with anyone above level 20? Would you have a warlock create the demon TV and then drop group, leaving a pair of level 20 or below to do the actual summoning? Do summoning stones no longer have level restrictions on them? I suppose a low level character in a level 20+ guild could do mass summoning, but other kinds of summoning seem a bit tricky.

Also, what's the highest level dungeon players can queue for? (Obvs I haven't played a low level in a long time, haha.) Can they go to the Stockades? Or are RFC, SFK, WC and Deadmines it?

If you have a friend group with you that is in a guild that has "Have group will travel" you could do that

Commentaire de Zuty

on 2011-08-15T12:26:11-05:00

Just wanted to add some stuff to this:

-Player are on a TBC account and thus cannot even train in Archeology-Inscription is probably the least favorable profession to pick up as all the scrolls can be purchased from various NPCs-Tailoring is useless, even for the 8 slot bags. WC can be easily farmed for Sac en serpent since it is no longer unique. After which point, you should have enough rep with at least one faction to buy one of the 16 slot bags. You'll also have enough gold burning a hole in your pocket to purchase the profession specific bags like Sac de mineur and Bourse de gemmes (should cost 10g when you are Exalted).-You'll have no issues with gold, in fact you'll have the opposite. Since you no longer gain XP from quests, you gain money instead. Since you won't have access to the AH or trading with players, you are limited to what vendors sell for 10g (12g costing items will cost 10g at Exalted with their faction) So go pick up some vanity pets, every mount you can carry, and a case of Whisky halaani.-You are limited to TBC content, but are able to venture to Cata content if you are aided by a P2P (Pay to Play) player. I know of some people who have the turtle mount from fishing in Uldum, so it is possible.